You may have a lifestyle that involves hours in your car, and you
like your dog to go with you. If that's the case, we hope you won't be
like Deanna. She loved her little shih tzu, Scarlet, so much that she
did everything she could to help Scarlet feel secure, including
endangering herself and her dog by allowing Scarlet to sit on her
shoulders while she was driving. Scarlet would fall asleep and slide
down Deanna's back so she had to hunch over while driving -- a very
uncomfortable and dangerous position. Deanna's daughter, Kim, who also
loved Scarlet very much, cured her of her shoulder-sitting habit. "I
just wouldn't let her sit on my shoulders," she said. This reflects a
profound training method -- your kind and firm expectations and
follow-through.

Many people have developed the habit of letting their dog ride in
the passenger seat next to them. This is a mistake, mainly for safety
reasons. If you have a fairly large dog, your view can be obstructed.
If you encounter an emergency and need to brake suddenly, your dog
could get injured by hitting the windshield or by the air bag. If you
have to make a sharp turn, your dog could end up bumping into or
falling over you.

Your dog is safest in the back seat. Use either a special harness
for your dog that hooks on to a seat belt, a doggy car seat that
elevates your dog so he or she can watch out the window, or a leash
that attaches to the seat belt. All of these items can be found at a
pet store or on the Internet. If your car is a station wagon or
sport-utility vehicle, the best way to transport your dog is in the far
back of the car using a crate or a grill to create a safe, convenient
compartment for the dog. This is how Lynn's dogs ride in the car, and
they love going everywhere with the family, no matter how long the
trip. They're so quiet, it's easy to forget they're back there. All it
takes to get them ready is to ask, "Would you like to go to the
movies?" Or, "Should we go to the bakery?" Or, "Anyone want to go to
Tahoe?" and both dogs are standing with noses to the door, ready for an
adventure.

If you have a pickup truck without a camper shell, you have only two
options: in the cab with you with the leash attached either to the door
handle or some other device that keeps your dog from reaching you, or a
crate in the pickup bed securely fastened with bungee cords or
something similar that will prevent it from tipping over or sliding.
Unfortunately, it is common practice for some people to keep dogs in
the back of a pickup either loose, which is illegal in some communities
and a totally unacceptable option for safety reasons, or to use a
commercially available device that allows the dog to be secured in the
pickup bed without being able to reach the sides. If you have an
accident, the device could break and your dog could tumble out of the
truck to certain death or severe injury, not to mention the serious
hazard to traffic. Also, keeping a dog in the pickup bed can be very
damaging to the dog's eyes with debris flying through the air. In hot
weather, unless you have carpeting in your pickup, the metal will heat
up to an unacceptable degree and hurt the dog's feet. It's an excellent
idea to transport a dog in a pickup with a camper shell with adequate
flooring (not the metal bed itself) and with windows on the side for
ventilation, or a window between the cab and the camper shell, so the
dog can feel close to you.

Start training your dogs early if you want them to get used to
traveling in a car with you. Use one of our recommended forms of
containment or a crate. Leave a bowl of water in the car, along with
some type of animal product such as a baited bone or a hoof. And lock
your doors; if your dog is well socialized, valuable, and friendly, he
could become a dog-napping victim. In hot or even warm weather you must
never leave your dog in the car, even in the shade. Even with windows
cracked open and in the shade, the temperature inside the car can be
fifteen to twenty degrees hotter than outside, and your dog can die of
hyperthermia.

If dogs could talk, we think they might say: "Riding in the car
is almost as much fun as going for walks with you. Thanks for taking me
along and keeping me safe."